[KHolloman]

Hey guys,

I had very little Unix back in college, but I deal alot with Unix here at work as far as having to write TCL statements for reports etc..

All in all I would say I am not very comfortable with Unix or Linux, and am looking to install a version on my 2nd HD.

Open to suggestions.

Thanks guys.

[JustDesi]

MANDRAKE 10.. but i'm sure everyone has there own experiences and opinions

[KHolloman]

Yeah I am sure, just getting some ideas. Thanks for the post

[tsunam]

fedora core 2, mandrake 10, linspire. If you just wnat it to work and you can do your TCL practice those are the quickest and easiest to install. of the three i'd recommend fedora (redhat project) or mandrake

[GrumpyHermit]

Mandrake 10 or SuSE 9.1 Pro.

[KHolloman]

im pretty strong with TCL...ok so I think I will try Mandrake..

I found an official download for it, but do I have to do 4 cd's or will it fit on one?

Also is there any other software needed?

[lynch]

The first 3 are all you need and there is plenty of software provided to get a nice system. The 4th CD I have'nt seen on any mirrors and it isnt really needed, anyway.
HTH
lynch

[GrumpyHermit]

Originally Posted by lynch

The first 3 are all you need and there is plenty of software provided to get a nice system. The 4th CD I have'nt seen on any mirrors and it isnt really needed, anyway.
HTH
lynch

Isn't the fourth CD a "live" testing cd?

[KHolloman]

I downloaded all 4 last night. I will install on my spare HD tonight....anything I should know about?

My C: drive has Windows XP, but I have a D: which I want to format and install Linux on....am I going to run into issues like this?

[saikee]

KHollman

Which ever way you are going to turn you will have to let a Linux bootloader into the Master Boot Record (MBR) of the bootable hard drive and that is the one with XP. You might as well get used to this idea and make sure that the MBR can be recovered.

The reason that the MBR will be partially overwritten by a Linux is because many distros have a two-stage installation. They want a reboot to finish and hence need access to the MBR.

Therefore I concentrate my advice on how to get the MBR back should you want to do it.

The standard method is to load the XP installation CD, wait for a while, choose recovery console, feed in the administrator password to get to a command prompt, type fixmbr, type exit and the system will reboot back to Windows. For that you lose the access to the Linux temporarily.

A quick way is to find an old bootable DOS floppy with fdisk.exe command in it, boot it up and type fdisk /mbr to achieve the same thing.

Being not very comfortable, as you put it , at any one stage you will lose access to Linux or Windows. The above will get you back the Windows. To get back a Linux it depends on which bootloader of the Linux uses. However a Live CD may be the best way forward and some detail is given in this thread.

Before I leave you in peace you may like to know a Linux seldom occupies more than 5Gb. Hence I have created 28 partitions in my 200Gb disk and loaded 15 distros so far. You may consider to load several Linux to choose the best one for yourself.

[KHolloman]

Well,

My XP is actually an ME upgrade.

[GrumpyHermit]

Originally Posted by saikee

Before I leave you in peace you may like to know a Linux seldom occupies more than 5Gb. Hence I have created 28 partitions in my 200Gb disk and loaded 15 distros so far. You may consider to load several Linux to choose the best one for yourself.

Saikee, I find this intriguing; if it's not a violation of your privacy, why do you have so many Linux distros on your computer? What does your bootscreen look like, do they all show up?

[saikee]

GrumpHermit,

I am only a 2-month old beginner in Linux trying to learn the system. I just find it easier to learn by seeing the things they all have in common. The two bootloaders Lilo and Grub are good examples. I don't seem to run into any resistance to make Linux booting each other or Windows. I have even placed the bootloader in the extended partition and it still boots.

Most bootloader cannot accommodate all the 15 choices and runs into a second screen, which shows up as I scroll down the page. One Lilo from Knoppix actually has 3 columns to show the boot choices. Because I chainload each bootloader and have its screen display therefore each boot choice is another screen of potentially 15 choices. Basically I have 15 screens from 15 bootloaders.

Chainloading requires almost no work from me to set it up. Linux by itself will do it automatically. The trick involved is just to make sure each Linux has its bootloader inside its partition for an installing distro to pick up the information. To instruct a Linux, say at partition hda20, to place its bootloader inside the partition is a one-line command.

For Lilo ---> lilo -b /dev/hda20

For Grub ---> grub-install /dev/hda20

That is all to it.

Another reason for loading as many distros I can lay my hand on is to see what each can offer. Not every distro can kickstart all my hardware. With enough of them inside all my hardware work and I don't have to pull hair out if one fails to give sound for example.

The cost of hard disk storage is about 2.5Gb/£ in Uk or 1.6Gb/$ in the States so really it is £2 or $3.5 investment to store a Linux which is free from downloading. I can't understand why one only want to stick with only one or two.

[KHolloman]

Well....I am not sure I understand how to install linux...so I just saved the 4 CD's to my HD...so if I ever figure it out I will burn the CD's.

I also understand I am not suppose to write the ISO to the cd as data, but as an image?

[tsunam]

yep, take the iso and in nero or whatever progam you have and you want to click open, and then you should select the iso option from the possible formats. you should have LOTS of files appear and directories, if it doesn't you need to retry .